As I’ve said in previous blog posts, when I raised this reality of sexual abuse by Qur’an teachers in the Muslim community on my old blog, many people responded by sharing their own experiences or at least something they’d seen. I’ve shared some of those responses in the last entries, and some are here.

5. Someone simply commented that he, too, had been sexually abused as a child but wasn’t sure about a platform where he could discus it confidently.

6. Another commenter said (and I’m tempted to agree with this – I think the number of children sexually abused is at least 90%; no, I have no stats to back this up with, but, no, I don’t need any stats to back it up by! Stats aren’t entirely helpful when it comes to this issue because few people are willing to open about it):

Child abuse in pakistan is almost 100 percent. Especially among boys. All boys r sexually molested and sodomized by older bhai Jans.
It’s very common for girls too. It’s a shame that when we kids, we were not encouraged to speak up and complain.

7. Someone wrote:

Reminds me me of our Islamyat teacher in middle school. He was tall with big black beared and use to wear black shirwani and Peacock head head gear (Qula with shamla).
Being good looking puppoo boy i was his favorit student. In winters he use to keep peanuts in his shirwani pocket. He use to tell me to take peanuts from the pocket and enjoy them. First time i was shocked because i felt something warm fluffy in the pocket and he presed my hand to hold it. He had a long thick tool with mushroom head ! and his pocket had a hole.

8. One of my female friends in high school was sexually abused by her Qur’an teacher in elementary school – her teacher was a female.